Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Promotion
of Grade-I (Under Secretary) officers of CSS to the Selection Grade
(Deputy Secretary) on ad-hoc basis alongwith of posting of a Deputy
Secretary- furnishing of personal information regarding.

No.4/11/2015-CS-I(D)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)

Lok Nayak Bhawan, New Delhi -110003
Dated the 19th April, 2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Promotion of Grade-I (Under Secretary) officers of
CSS to the Selection Grade (Deputy Secretary) on ad-hoc basis along with
posting of a Deputy Secretary – Furnishing of personal information
thereof.

The undersigned is directed to say that promotions of officers of
Grade-I (Under Secretary) of CSS to the Selection Grade (Deputy
Secretary) on ad-hoc basis along with posting of a Deputy Secretary are
likely to be made shortly.

2. The officers who are to be considered for promotion/posting is at
Annexure-I. Details of vacancies that will be available on 01.05.2016 in
DSlDirector grade of CSS is at Annexure II.

3. The officers may exercise their choices as per RTP latest by
21.04.2016 (01:00 PM) in the format at Annexure-III. The options should
be furnished to Under Secretary, CS-I (D), Department of Personnel and
Training through e-mail (uscsoned@gmail.com ). If option is not received
from the officers who are in the cadre by 21.04.2016, it will be
presumed that the officer concerned has no specific choice and posting
will be decided by the Placement Committee accordingly. In case the
officers who are on deputation do not furnish their choices by the
stipulated time, it will be presumed that they are not willing to
repatriate to the cadre to avail ad-hoc promotion and their names will
be considered in future only on receipt of written communication
conveying their willingness to repatriate to the cadre to avail
promotion.

4. The officers before submission of options should ensure that data in
their respect is complete and update in the web based cadre management
system (cscms.nic.in). If the data is not complete, it should be first
got updated before submission of option.

(Raju Saraswat)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Telefax: 24629413

Subject: Incomplete Data in Web Based Cadre Management System for CSS Officers of Under Secretary

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s O.M. No.
No.21/1/2016-CS.1 (U) dated 26.02.2016, 08.03.2016 and 30.03.2016 on the
subject mentioned above and to say that out of 398 Under Secretaries,
information in respect of 58 Officers only have been received.

2. It is, therefore requested that the particulars of retaining
Officers in the prescribed format, duly certified by the Admn. Division,
may be forwarded at the earliest in order to enable this Department to
complete the experience details in the web based cadre management
system.

Affected Pre-2006 Pensioners will get arrears from 1.1.2006 due to qualifying service issue – PCDA Circulars on 8.4.2016

The
Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) issued an order
regarding the arrears payment for the affected pre-2006 pensioners with
effect from 1.1.2006.

“All pension disbursing authorities (PDAs) are therefore, requested
to revise the pension in affected cases in terms of Govt. OM No.
38/37/08-P&PW (A), dated 06-04-2016 w.e.f 01.01.2006. Payment made
w.e.f. 01.01.2006 will be adjusted against the arrears now being paid
and these cases may be reflected in the monthly account sent to this
office as ‘change item’.”

Attention of all Pension Disbursing Authorities is invited to above
cited circulars wherein instructions had been issued for implementation
of GOI, Ministry of P,PG and Pensions, Deptt of P&PQ OM No.
38/37/08-P&PW(A,) dated 28 January, 2013 w.e.f 01.01.2006. According
to these orders “The revised pension of the pre-2006 pensioners shall
not be less than 50% off the minimum of the pay band + grade pay,
corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale from which pensioner had
retired, as arrived at with reference to the fitment tables annexed to
Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1/2008-IC dated
30th August, 2008, Subject to the pension so arrived will be reduced
pro-rata, where the pensioner had less than the maximum required service
for full pension as per rule 49 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 as
applicable before 1.1.2006 and in no case it will be less than Rs.
3500/- p.m”.

(2) Now, GOI, Ministry of P, PG and pension, Dept of P&PW have
further issued order under their OM No. 38/37/08 P&PW (A) dated 6th
April, 2016, that “The revised consolidated pension of pre-2006
pensioners shall not be lower than 50% of the sum of minimum of the pay
in the Pay Band and the Grade Pay (wherever applicable) corresponding to
the pre-revised pay scale as per fitment table annexed to Ministry of
Finance, Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1/2008-IC dated 30th August,
2008 without pro-rata reduction of pension even if they had qualifying
service of less than 33 years at the time of retirement.” Accordingly,
Para 5 of the OM dated 28.01.2013 would stand deleted. The arrears of
revised pension would be payable with effect from 01.01.2006.

(3) In case the consolidated pension calculated as per Para 4.1 of OM
No. 38/37/08-P&PW (A) dated 01-09-2008 is higher than the pension
calculated in the manner indicated in the OM dated 6th April, 2016, the
same (higher consolidated pension) will continue to be treated as basic
pension.

(4) All other conditions as given in OM No. 38/37/08-P&PW (A)
dated 1.9.2008, as amended from time to time shall remain unchanged.

(5) All pension disbursing authorities (PDAs) are therefore,
requested to revise the pension in affected cases in terms of Govt. OM
No. 38/37/08-P&PW (A), dated 06-04-2016 w.e.f 01.01.2006. Payment
made w.e.f. 01.01.2006 will be adjusted against the arrears now being
paid and these cases may be reflected in the monthly account sent to
this office as ‘change item’.

(6) Where the PDAs are in doubt in regulating the payment of revised
pension under these orders, the cases with full details of pensioner and
PPO number etc. may be referred to Audit Section of this office for
advice and further action.

Central
government is set to recruit 2.2 lakh central government employees over
a period of two years from March 1, 2015, despite the Centre’s
announcements from time to time on a freeze in fresh recruitments.

The central government’s actual staff on March 1, 2015 was 33.05
lakh, which increased to 34.93 lakh in 2016 and is estimated to grow to
35.23 lakh by March 1, 2017, according to the budget estimates for
2016-17.

This includes the railways — which has not added a single worker to
its strength of 13,26,437 in the last three years — but excludes the
defence forces.

The biggest increase of 70,000 is projected in the revenue department
which comprises income tax and customs, central excise and service tax,
followed by central paramilitary forces, projected to rise by 47,000.
The strength of the home ministry, excluding paramilitary forces, has
increased by 6,000.

The cabinet secretariat, a fairly small department assisting the
government, will add 301 employees, going up from 900 in 2015 to 1,201
by March 1, 2017. The I&B ministry added nearly 2,200 personnel in
the last two years.

The personnel ministry, which manages government staff, added 1,800
jobs in the last two years, the urban development ministry 6,000, mines
ministry 4,399 and department of space 1,000.

However, the financial allocation for salaries and allowances for the
revenue department has not shown any major difference, for the reason
that the department has not been able to recruit personnel due to slow
progress in the cadre restructuring exercise.

Some departments have faced downsizing. Interestingly, there has been
a cut in the department of rural development, the focus area of the
government, where the strength has come down from 538 in 2015 to 472 in
2016-17.

A major reason for the spurt in hiring is that many departments faced
acute staff crunch in Group B and C categories due to a moratorium on
fresh recruitments for the past several years.

A lot of the new appointments have been in these categories.
Vacancies have piled up over the years. More than six lakh posts are
vacant in various central government ministries, according to the
personnel ministry.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has decided against
scrapping a 145-year-old law, which exempts pension from being “attached
or sequestered”, though a bill seeking its abrogation from statute book
has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.

Earlier, the DoPT had asked the Law Ministry to include the Pensions
Act, 1871 in the repealing bill so it could be removed from the statute
book. One of the key provisions of the law is that it exempts pension
from attachment by any court. But later, it wrote to the Law Ministry to
remove the Act from the repealing bill.

After its passage in the Lok Sabha, the Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill, 2015 is pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The Law Ministry is the nodal agency for repealing laws which have lost relevance today.

A senior government functionary said that perhaps the realisation
that there is no other law in the country which protects pensions led to
decision against scrapping the Act.

After the DoPTs request, the Law Ministry approached the Union
Cabinet to clear an official amendment to remove the Pensions Act from
the repealing bill.

On March 23, the Union Cabinet cleared the official amendments,
paving way for the passage of the bill in the upper house. After being
cleared by the Rajya Sabha, the bill will travel back to the Lok Sabha
to clear the official amendments.

Section 11 of the Act states that “No Pension granted or continued by
government on political considerations, or on account of past services
or present infirmities or as a compassionate allowance, and no money due
or to become due on account of any such pension or allowance, shall be
liable to seizure, attachment or sequestration by process of any court
at the instance of a creditor, for any demand against the pensioner, or
in satisfaction of a decree or order of any such court.”

Another official amendment cleared by the Union Cabinet relates to
the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015. The bill, cleared by the Lok
Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha, seeks to repeal The Punjab
Appropriation Act among other laws. But the Punjab Appropriation Act has
already been repealed by the Punjab Legislative Assembly and
“inadvertently” became part of the Appropriation (Acts) Repeal Bill,
2015.
The two bills seek to scrap a total of 1,053 Acts which have become redundant and are clogging the statute books.

On Feb 10, 2016, the ministry of labour and employment made sweeping
changes in the EPF rules restricting the withdrawal of EPF corpus. EPFO
rules restricting withdrawal of employees’ provident fund will come into
force after April 30.

New EPF Rules to Come into Force after April 30 – The government has
deferred the implementation of the new rule till April 30, 2016.

EPFO rules restricting withdrawal of employees’ provident fund will
come into force after April 30. This means that in case you are
unemployed for 2 months or more and want to withdraw your full EPF you
can do so only within the next 15 days. After that the withdrawal amount
will be restricted and you will be able to get the full amount only
when you turn 58.

On Feb 10, 2016, the ministry of labour and employment made sweeping
changes in the EPF rules restricting the withdrawal of EPF corpus.

Hitherto, a member of EPFO could withdraw 100% of the accumulated
corpus if unemployed for a period of 2 months or more. The accumulated
corpus is a sum of employer’s contribution, employee’s contribution and
the interest earned on them. Of course, the person needs to have
accumulated some EPF in a previous employment to have a corpus to
withdraw at all.

However, the new EPF rules have restricted the amount of withdrawal
that a member can make. Under the new rule, a member after being
unemployed for 2 months or more can withdraw only his own contribution
and the interest earned on it. He can’t withdraw the corpus generated
from the employer’s contribution along with the interest earned on it. A
member in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can withdraw
the full Employee Provident Fund (EPF) corpus only after attaining the
age of 58 years. So, if you are jobless for 2 months or more and wish to
withdraw the full EPF corpus, you just have 15 days to get it out.

The government has deferred the implementation of the new rule till
April 30, 2016. From May 1, till 58 years of age you can withdraw only
your own contribution in EPF which equals 12% of your basic salary plus
the interest if unemployed for 2 months or more. The employer’s
contribution plus the interest accumulated will be withdrawable only
once you attain the age of 58 years.

We consider a hypothetical scenario wherein a person after being
employed for 20 years becomes jobless in the month of Jan, 2016.
Assuming his basic salary as Rs 25000 per month for the whole period his
own contribution in EPF would be Rs 3000 per month. If he contributes
for 20 years, his own contribution of Rs 7.20 lakh (12%*25000*12*20)
will yield him a corpus of ​approximately Rs 19 lakh which includes the
interest on his contribution.

What’s more, the employer’s contribution of Rs 4.20 lakh will grow to
Rs 11.50 lakh approximately which includes the interest component too.
In this case, we have assumed an interest rate of 9% per annum
compounded yearly for the whole period. As he became jobless in Jan, he
is unemployed for a period of more than 2 months as on date.

Under the current rule, if he withdraws his EPF corpus before May 1,
then he can withdraw the full corpus of Rs 30.5 lakh. However, if he
doesn’t withdraw before May 1, he can take out his own contribution and
interest of Rs 19 lakh even after this date provided he remains jobless.
However, the remaining Rs 11.50 lakh can be withdrawn only after he
reaches the age of 58 years. You can however, withdraw 90% of the
employer’s contribution plus interest at the age of 57 years.
Importantly, the erstwhile rule of zero interest on inoperative accounts
was quashed from April 1. Hence the employer’s contribution lying idle
in the EPF account till the age of 58 years will continue to earn
interest.

Subject: Attestation Form for verification of character and antecedents prior to appointment in Government service — regarding.

Sir,
A large number of officers are appointed in Government of India
through selection process conducted by recruiting agencies like UPSC.
Once the list of successful candidates are recommended by these
agencies, the appointing authorities undertake an exercise of
verification of the character and antecedents of the candidates for
which the recommended candidates has to fill up an Attestation Form on
which the verification is carried out. At present, the Attestation form
includes Identity Certificate.

2. The undersigned has been directed to advice UPSC not to insist for
an Identity Certificate and to dispense away with this provision (of
the Identity Certificate) in future.

3. This may also be posted on UPSC’s website for information of all concerned.

To
1. The Chief Secretaries of all the State Governments/ UTs.
2. The Secretaries of all the Ministries/Departments of Government of India.

Subject: Long term and short term foreign training programmes under DFFT during 2016-17 – reg.

Sir/Madam,
The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s letters of
even number dated 23.03.2016 and dated 11.04.2016 on the above mentioned
subject, and to make the following further clarifications in the
matter:

i) As per para 12 of letter dated 23.03.206, for the long term
training programmes, namely, MPA Mason Programme (Harvard University),
Masters in Public Policy (Cambridge University), Masters in Public
Health (John Hopkins University) and Masters in Public Policy (Blavatnik
School, Oxford University), interested officers apply directly to the
university and undertake admission/selection process as stipulated by
the university as a private individual. Once an officer is selected by
these Universities, he/she may apply for sponsorship under the DFFT
Scheme through their respective controlling authorities along with
requisite clearances. Under this, long term programme on Master of
Public Policy at Princeton University has been added. Since tuition fee
and stipend are given by the University for MPP at Princeton University,
eligible officers will be paid air fare on actual basis, subject to
entitlement of officers and economy instructions issued by MoF/DoPT from
time to time.

ii) The programmes under LSE and LKY, as mentioned in para 3 of the
letter dated 11.03.2016 are long term programmes, where, officers having
confirmed admissions will be provided full funding if eligible under
the DFFT scheme and subject to the availability of slots;

Kind attention is invited to the references cited above on the
pending issues of Railway employees as also the issues arisen consequent
upon retrograde recommendations of 7th CPC.

During the. meeting of Empowered Committee of secretaries held on 1St
March 2016 under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary, the JCM (Staff
Side) Members have explained on 26 point Charter of Demands and “Strike
Decision” in the event negotiated settlement is not reached. After
hearing the JCM (Staff Side) Members, on each issue listed in the
Charter of Demands, the Cabinet Secretary said that adequate time is
needed to facilitate inter-departmental consultations to crystallize the
issues to be processed further. Responding to the suggestion of Cabinet
Secretary, the “strike date” has been deferred, hoping that there will
be a negotiated settlement on the demands by the end of May 2016.

It is however noticed that commitments given by the Board pursuant to
discussions are yet to be implemented. Some issues dealt in the Fast
Track Committee meetings and Running Staff issues discussed in the Joint
Committee Meetings are yet to be resolved satisfactorily. Orders for
stepping up of pay of Loco Inspectors inducted prior to 01/01/2006 have
not been issued yet even though SLPs were dismissed by the Apex Court.

The delay in finalizing the pending issues is contributing serious
unrest among staff of various categories. Added to this situation, the
negative and retrograde recommendations of the VIIth Central Pay
Commission have generated anger and frustration among Technicians,
Technical Supervisors, Running Staff, Safety categories staff,
Supervisory Officials, Railway common categories staff etc.

You are aware that in the interaction meeting of Empowered Committee
of Secretaries held on 30th March 2016 under the chairmanship of the
Cabinet Secretary, the Federations have explained the uniqueness of
Railways and complex and difficult nature of working of Railway
employees and the need for modification of 7th CPC recommendations and
also rectification of VI CPC anomalies by implementing the agreements
reached with the Railway Ministry. The need for exemption of Railways
from National Pension System (NPS) and the communications sent by
Hon’ble Railway Ministers to this effect to the Hon’ble Finance Minister
have also been apprised to the chairman of the Empowered Committee of
Secretaries on 30th March, 2016.

As the time is running out, the NFIR once again requests the CRB to
kindly take special initiative towards resolving the issues through
negotiated settlement at the earliest for preserving industrial peace in
the Railways.